WiFi Question on wiring small neighborhood

So I live in an area with no DSL, Cable, etc avaliable. It's a string
of 50 houses along a mile road out in the country. A few people at the
front of the division can get wireless successfully. But, most can't.

So what I was wonderingn is this. What alternatives do we have? I'd
love to be able to have one user buy a big pipe over the wireless
connection, and then set up some sort of WiFi through the neighborhood
and share the cost.

What are we looking at as far as limitations for distance, trees, etc?
Would "chaining" connectons be feasible? Or are there antennas with
enough gain to get good response from 1/2 mile away?

The one house that has wireless internet is probaly half way between
the rest of the houses, so a half mile in either direction to the each
end of the division.

Thanks!

In article <TNjjb.353$(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...

> So what I was wonderingn is this. What alternatives do we have? I'd
> love to be able to have one user buy a big pipe over the wireless
> connection, and then set up some sort of WiFi through the neighborhood
> and share the cost.
>
> What are we looking at as far as limitations for distance, trees, etc?
> Would "chaining" connectons be feasible? Or are there antennas with
> enough gain to get good response from 1/2 mile away?
>
> The one house that has wireless internet is probaly half way between
> the rest of the houses, so a half mile in either direction to the each
> end of the division.


First of all, can someone in the community get a broadband connection
with a TOS agreement that allows sharing/reselling of bandwidth? No
point in engineering and installing a network if it is going to get shut
off by an upstream provider.

Once you have that, all you need is the will to organize your community
network. Sebastopol, CA's NoCatNet (http://www.nocatnet.com) is a very
successful co-op community network.

Seattle Wireless (http://www.seattlewireless.net/) and Portland, OR's
PersonalTelco (http://www.personaltelco.net) are also good examples.
Even if their commie, free-networking-for-everyone philosophy IS a
threat to hard-working American capitalist-dog wireless providers. ;~>

You'd do well to start your research at those sites.

"Chaining" connections is what the Internet is all about, so yes, its
certainly feasible.

1/2 mile is easily doable with off-the-shelf 802.11 gear and the right
antenna, provided you have good line-of-site between end points.
Depending on the gain and placement of your antennas, _some_ vegetation
might not be a problem, but trees have a nasty habit of growing new
leaves and limbs. A link that works this winter might go down in the
springtime.

--
********************************************
Flatline Wi-Fi -- Un-Wiring You To The World
http://www.flatline.com
********************************************

Line of sight is definitely the key. Leaves are a big problem, as 2.4 GHz
is seriously attenuated by water, which is a key component in leaves. A lot
of people are using Linksys APs, since they have industry standard antenna
connectors, which makes it easy to hook up directional antenna gear.

Mike Schumann

"Jawn" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed). net...
> In article <TNjjb.353$(E-Mail Removed)>,
> (E-Mail Removed) says...
>
> > So what I was wonderingn is this. What alternatives do we have? I'd
> > love to be able to have one user buy a big pipe over the wireless
> > connection, and then set up some sort of WiFi through the neighborhood
> > and share the cost.
> >
> > What are we looking at as far as limitations for distance, trees, etc?
> > Would "chaining" connectons be feasible? Or are there antennas with
> > enough gain to get good response from 1/2 mile away?
> >
> > The one house that has wireless internet is probaly half way between
> > the rest of the houses, so a half mile in either direction to the each
> > end of the division.
>
>
> First of all, can someone in the community get a broadband connection
> with a TOS agreement that allows sharing/reselling of bandwidth? No
> point in engineering and installing a network if it is going to get shut
> off by an upstream provider.
>
> Once you have that, all you need is the will to organize your community
> network. Sebastopol, CA's NoCatNet (http://www.nocatnet.com) is a very
> successful co-op community network.
>
> Seattle Wireless (http://www.seattlewireless.net/) and Portland, OR's
> PersonalTelco (http://www.personaltelco.net) are also good examples.
> Even if their commie, free-networking-for-everyone philosophy IS a
> threat to hard-working American capitalist-dog wireless providers. ;~>
>
> You'd do well to start your research at those sites.
>
> "Chaining" connections is what the Internet is all about, so yes, its
> certainly feasible.
>
> 1/2 mile is easily doable with off-the-shelf 802.11 gear and the right
> antenna, provided you have good line-of-site between end points.
> Depending on the gain and placement of your antennas, _some_ vegetation
> might not be a problem, but trees have a nasty habit of growing new
> leaves and limbs. A link that works this winter might go down in the
> springtime.
>
> --
> ********************************************
> Flatline Wi-Fi -- Un-Wiring You To The World
> http://www.flatline.com
> ********************************************